View full sizeTony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerAn analysis of two dozen New Jersey intersections that have had red-light cameras for at least a year found that accidents - particularly rear-end crashes - have increased, and the collisions are more costly.

TRENTON — They were installed at dangerous intersections to reduce the number of crashes, but New Jersey's controversial red-light cameras have actually seen an increase in collisions, according to a new state report.

A New Jersey Department of Transportation analysis of two dozen intersections that have had the automated traffic cops for at least a year found that accidents — particularly rear-end crashes — have increased, and the collisions are more costly.

Rear-end collisions at the intersections were up by 20 percent, from 286 the year before the cameras were installed to 343 the year after, according to the report made public yesterday. Overall, accidents increased from 577 crashes the year before the cameras were installed to 582 the year after. The "crash severity cost" — which takes into account vehicle and property damage, emergency response and medical care — increased by nearly $1.2 million after the cameras were installed.

"If you believe the hype of these cameras, accidents should be down across the board," said state Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth), a critic of the devices. "But it’s just not true."

The report is a classic glass half-full or glass half-empty proposition.

Red-light camera proponents can point to the 50 percent drop in citations over a year, from 35,644 issued the first month to 17,934 issued in the last month, and 15 percent decrease in the more severe types of right-angle crashes.

"Driver behavior doesn’t change overnight, but the findings in this report are largely consistent with programs around the country," said Charles Territo, vice president of communications for American Traffic Solutions, one of two vendors for red-light cameras in New Jersey’s program. "Over time red-light safety cameras reduce the number of red-light running violations and decrease the most deadly collisions commonly attributed to red-light running."

The report only looked at the 24 intersections that had at least one year of data as of Dec. 31, 2011. There are now 85 intersections in the state with red-light cameras.

Included in the report were two intersections in Newark that have two years worth of data — Broad and Market streets and Broad Street and Raymond Boulevard, where cameras were installed in December 2009. The data was collected before the cameras at Broad and Raymond were riddled with bullet holes from a shooter on Aug. 10. A sniper also put some lead in the cameras at Broad and Murray streets in Newark.

At the intersections of Broad and Market and Broad and Raymond, right-angle crashes dropped from 7 in the year before the cameras were installed to 1 in the second year — a more than 85-percent decrease, albeit in a small sample size — and rear-end crashes shrunk from 12 to 7.

In addition to Newark, the survey looked at intersections in Brick, Deptford, Glassboro and Gloucester and Woodbridge townships and Linden, New Brunswick and Stratford.

New Jersey is finishing the third year of a 5-year pilot red-light camera pilot program that ends in 2014, and the DOT, noting that more analysis is needed, in its report recommended that the program continue.

"The pilot-program was created to assess whether these devices improve safety at intersections with a history of high accident rates and severe crashes," the DOT said in a statement. "As the year two report indicates, the Department recommends that the pilot-program be continued to collect more data that would serve as the basis of an informed final decision."

The DOT in June suspended 63 of the 85 red-light cameras over concerns that yellow lights weren’t giving motorists enough time to get through intersections. The state lifted the suspension five weeks later after finding all cameras met standards.

O’Scanlon proposes increasing the length of yellow lights by one second, a stance supported by the New Jersey representative of the National Motorists Association driving rights group.

"The report reinforces the association’s summer directive to end or fix the program," Steve Carrellas said. "With crash severity reported as increasing by $1.2 million, policy makers need to take a hard look at the public safety costs of continuing the program as currently defined."